As She Falls To The Ground
by Always By Choice
Summary: Any other kunoichi would have left after the first smack. Sakura didn't, all because he told her that he loved her. But Naruto knows better. SasuSaku, eventual NaruSaku. Songfic to "Face Down." OneShot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Naruto**_** by Masashi Kishimoto**_**, **_**nor do I own the Song "Face Down" by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. I think that it's probably a bit obvious, because I don't think I could own both of them at the same time. I don't see the point in disclaimers, but some people just don't have enough common sense to put the words "fan" and "fiction" together and realize that I am merely a fan who writes fiction. **

**Author's Note: Isn't it weird how anything, even a song you haven't heard in ages, can inspire you to write? Yeah, so I heard it this morning in the car, and even though I'm a SasuSaku fan, I thought, that reminds me of Sakura and Sasuke! But then, I just need someone to be the person whose point of view the song was. I finally decided that it would be Naruto, resulting in a slight NaruSaku fic, even though I'm a die hard fan of NaruHina. I actually never thought I'd write a NaruSaku story in my life, but I guess the unexpeced happens sometimes...**

* * *

_Hey girl, you know you drive me crazy. _

_One look puts the rhythm in my hand. _

_Still, I'll never understand why you hang around. _

_I see what's going down. _

Naruto had known that he liked Sakura since he was ten. It started when he started to feel odd whenever she looked at him. It was a bit exhilarating, like the way he felt when his favorite song played on the radio. Only, this was a better song, and he wanted to hear it all. The only problem was that she never looked at him long enough to keep it playing. He would do anything for that feeling, even if it meant doing something crazy.

Of course Naruto knew that Sasuke was hurting her. He wished that she would leave him, fall in love with someone that wouldn't do something like that to her. He didn't see how she could stand to be with him.

_Cover yourself up with make up in the mirror,_

_Tell yourself that it's never going to happen again._

_You cry alone and then he swears he loves you. _

Sakura stood in front of the mirror. She slowly dabbed on the powder, trying to hide it. When she knew that there was nothing else to do, she stood back and examined her face. She saw the faint shadow over her left eye and the tremble of her lip. She knew she was going to cry now, but she tried to avoid it.

"He won't do this again," she promised the reflection of herself in the mirror, but the face was doubtful. "H-he was just angry. It won't happen again." But Sakura cried anyway, because she knew that it would happen again.

When Sasuke came home from another mission, he called her name. When he got no reply, he went towards the master suite of the house. When he found her hunched over the sink in the bathroom, sobbing, he grabbed her and held her close.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." He tilted her face towards him and kissed her forehead. "I love you."

Sakura wasn't sure that it was the truth, but she decided that she would believe him.

_Do you feel like a man?_

_When you push her around?_

_Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?_

_Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's gonna end._

_As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found._

"Teme," Naruto started one night. The two were alone in the waiting room of the hospital, waiting for the pinkette to be released from medical care. "Why do you keep doing this?"

"Doing what, dobe?"

"Keep hurting her like this."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Kami, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted exasperatedly. "Your girlfriend is in the hospital, all because you hit her too hard! Why do you do that? Does it give you a thrill? Does it make you feel better about yourself to hurt her? To push her? Do you like seeing her hurt?"

"Hn," Sasuke replied, staring determinedly at the wall with a detached expression.

"Well, Sakura-chan's strong," Naruto continued loudly. "And she won't take this much longer! One of these days, she's going to see through you. She'll realize that you lied when you said that you love her, and after that, she'll leave you."

_A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect._

_Every action in this world will bear a consequence._

_If you wade through the water forever, you will surely drown_

_I see what's going down._

It was because of all of this, Naruto thought to himself one night, all because she refuses to break up with him. One day, he knew, she would be sorry. Everyone knew by now. Everyone was trying to get her away from him. One day, she would wish she had listened to them, to her friends. She couldn't keep this up for long. It couldn't be too long before she would wade into the patch of water too deep and sink in.

Naruto didn't want that to happen.

_I see the way you go and say you're right again. _

_Say you're right again. _

_Heed my lecture._

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said softly one evening, "We need to talk. About Sasuke."

Sakura turned to him, green eyes sparkling with tears. "Oh, not you, too, Naruto-kun! Sasuke loves me! He really does!"

"How do you know?" the blonde inquired in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.

"He told me!" She stood up and started towards the door. "I…I can't talk about this now, Naruto!"

"Sakura, he put you in the hospital!" Naruto called to her. "That's not something that you do to someone you love!"

"I can't talk about this," Sakura repeated again, her hand grasping the handle.

"Please just listen to me, Sakura," he sighed. "I only want what's best for you."

The door slammed. She was gone.

_Face down in the dirt she says, this doesn't hurt she says I finally had enough._

_Face down in the dirt she says, this doesn't hurt she says I finally had enough._

She groaned slightly, rising onto her hands in the mud. But she couldn't force herself up. She fell back onto the ground. She had no idea how long she was there, laying in the much mad of dirt and her own blood. She saw a pair of sandaled feet approach her suddenly.

"Sakura," a voice said. Sakura looked up to see Naruto in the familiar black and orange outfit, a deeply concerned expression on his whiskered face. "Are you okay? Do I need to take you to the hospital?"

"This doesn't hurt," she muttered, once again trying feebly to push her body up and falling flat on her face.

"Need a hand?" Naruto offered softly, smiling gently at his long-time crush. She tried to smile back, which resulted in a shaky expression. She grasped at his hand, and he pulled her up. Tenderly, he held her while she cried. When she stopped, he pushed a lock of pink hair matted with dry blood behind her ear.

"Maybe you're right," she whispered. "He doesn't love me, after all. I think I've had enough."

_One day she will tell you that she has had enough._

_It's coming round again. _

"I don't understand, Sakura," the dark-haired man told to the woman. "Don't you love me?" He was standing in the doorway of the bedroom as she packed her bags.

"I did, Sasuke," she replied, zipping the last bag. "But I've had enough with it all. I've had enough with the yelling and the hitting. I'm done, Sasuke. I'm just done with it." She took the bags and walked towards the doorway. "Please move."

"But I love you, Sakura," he pleaded desperately. "Please don't go."

She glared at him. "No, you don't love me. I know that now, after all you did to me. You don't love me, and you never did. But I found someone who does," she continued. "So get out of my way, Sasuke."

"No," he grabbed her arm tightly. "I won't let you go."

She hit him with a suitcase, knocking him out of the way. As he stared after her, she walked away from the Uchiha compound to the man standing just beyond its gates.

Naruto smiled at her. "Are you ready?" Sakura nodded. She beamed back at him as he took the bags, the way a true gentleman would.

She never looked back, and she never shed a tear over the cold-hearted Uchiha again.


End file.
